Hasta La Gadget!

It’s time to begin counting down to the weekend once again, because we’ve hit Wednesday evening. Today we heard that the iPad Mini could launch on November 2, which makes sense considering that date is just over a week after Apple’s October 23 press event. Later in the day, more sources were mentioning a November 2 release date for the iPad Mini, as well as spilling a few more details about the long-rumored device. The Isis NFC mobile payment system will apparently be launching on October 22, and Microsoft said that Internet Explorer 10 will be coming to Windows 7 in mid-November.

We found out today iOS app size is on the rise, and that the FCC will allow AT&T to take advantage of unused airwaves for mobile broadband. Google is allowing third-party developers to use its plethora of Maps information with a set of new APIs, and Facebook’s new promoted posts feature is undergoing and expansion in Europe. RIM CEO Thorsten Heins had something to say about a recent (and rather negative) write-up about BlackBerry in The New York Times today, and a series of leaked AT&T training videos revealed that the Lumia 920 will be exclusive to the carrier for six months after its release.

Call of Duty Elite won’t be featured in the Wii U version of Black Ops II, and Apple has been granted a patent for an alternative NFC technology. Speaking of Apple, the company will be holding a meeting with the MFI group next month to talk about the future of the Lightning connector, and Foxconn is saying that the iPhone 5 is a difficult device to make, but assures that it’s getting better. Consumers are reporting a decline in overall Internet usage, but Forrester (the company that did the study) has a good explination for that, while V-MODA was busy pulling the veil off its Crossfade M-100 headphones today.

A new video called “Star Trails” shows time-lapse footage captured by the International Space Station, and the Color app that has been gracing Verizon phones lately may be going dark soon. Just a little while ago, Google sent out invites to an Android event that will take place in New York in a couple of weeks, and we got a high-definition look inside the company’s data centers today. The Pirate Bay told us this afternoon that it has switched its servers to the cloud, eBay posted some strong Q3 financial results, and Project Eternity from Obsidian reached its funding goal on Kickstarter (and then some).

Finally tonight, Chris Davies asks why we care about the iPad Mini, and Craig Lloyd brings us his review of the Loop Mummy iPhone case. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night everyone!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: October 17, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Phones, tablets, e-readers, cameras, laptops, TVs, headphones, routers, etc.—there are a lot of gadgets to buy these days. But when you buy a gadget, it’ll inevitably get old. So how often do you update an old gadget? Which devices get updated first? More »

Links International has just added another DDR3 memory module kit from Corsair to its product page, the CMD16GX3M2A2400C10. As part of the DOMINATOR PLATINUM series, this new 16GB (8GBx2) memory module kit works at 1.65V with 2400MHz speed and 10-12-12-31 latency. The CMD16GX3M2A2400C10 will become available from October 20th for around 26,600 Yen (about $337). [Product Page]

In a press release earlier today, Toshiba announced that it is now accepting pre-orders for its Windows 8 PCs, which will start shipping October 26th when Windows 8 is released. The company’s Windows 8 PC array ranges from budget models to ultrabooks to gaming machines and desktops. Not interested in pre-orders? The devices will also be available in stores on the 26th.

The Windows 8 array is comprised of the Satellite S Series, P Series, L Series, C800 Series, U Series, the Qosmio X875, as well as two All-in-One desktop models, the LX815 and the LX835. According to the press release, the new laptops are Windows 8 optimized, featuring touchpads with Windows 8 gesture support and the Toshiba Desktop Assist utility, which is similar to the Start menu found in Windows 7. This utility is designed to help consumers who are new to Windows 8 adjust to the new layout.

The S Series Satellite S800 laptop offers SRS Premium Sound HD audio, up to 1TB of storage, USB Sleep and Charge, up to 8GB of RAM, an optional Blu-Ray player, and a brushed aluminum finish. Processor options include 3rd gen Intel Core options and AMD A-series Accelerated Processing Units, with an AMD Radeon HD 7570M graphics card option featuring up to 2GB of DDR3 memory. The 15.6-inch model starts at $699.99, while the 17.3-inch model starts at $749.99. The S955 model has similar offerings in a sub-1 inch body with a 15.6 inch screen, starting at $649.99.

Next up is the Qosmio X875, a machine for gamers with an Intel Core i7 processor, up to 32GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M with 3GB of GDDR5 discrete memory. The display is a 17.3 inch HD+ TruBrite panel, or, depending on your configuration, a 3D-ready 1080p HD display with NVIDIA 3D Vision 2 Kit with Lightboost. Price starts at $1,479.99.

Other models now available for pre-order include the P Series P800 (15.6″ at $$799.99, 17.3″ at $929.99), the L Series L800 ($579.99 to $629.99) and L950 (starting at $579.99), the C855 (starting at $379.99) and C875 (starting at $499.99), the U Series U925t (starting at $1,149.99), the U945 (starting at $699.99), and the U845W (starting at $1,049.99). The All-in-One LX815 starts at $699.99, while the LX835 starts at $849.99.

Toshiba now accepting pre-orders for Windows 8 PCs is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

ASK Inc. Japan has released another graphics card from MSI namely the R7970 Lightning BE. Powered by a 28nm GPU, the card features 2048 Stream Processors, a 384-bit memory interface, a core clock of 1070MHz (1150MHz Boost Clock) and a 3GB of GDDR5 memory set @ 6000MHz. The card also employs the fourth generation Twin Frozr cooling solution and has 1x DVI-D, 1x DVI-I and 4x mini DisplayPort outputs. The MSI R7970 Lightning BE sells for 55,000 Yen (about $697). [Product Page]